I find it fascinating that posters have returned again and again to what the Church says, and their understanding of it. There has been virtually no discussion of the pandemic, and its global and humanitarian implications for us as Christians, except in terms of condoms and all that involves.
I it may be impossible, for people of faith, to have discussion about anything of value apart from that foundation.
When you were confronted by the fall of the Twin Towers in New York, how did you react? Was your first reaction to say, wait, wait, let me think about how Christ and the Vatican would tell me to deal with this?
Shamefully, no. I was in shock and denial for a long time.
Or do you think those first firemen, many of them Irish and firmly Catholic, raced up those stairs to save as many lives as they could, in the end losing their own lives? They reacted to a crisis, responded, did what they could do, and died doing it.
I honor them for their sacrifice, and pray that if I am ever called upon to do likewise, I will be able to throw myself with such courage and selfless abandon.
Who is prepared to die for humanity, as Christ did? Or must we wait for instruction? Must we look to our own souls first, and then the lives and souls of others?
Christ already died for humanity, so there is no death we can give that will offer more. Our task is to make humanity aware of the value of His death to each and every one. If our message does not proceed from faith, it will be empty. What Jesus is more concerned about is our eternal life, not our temporal life. He does not want people to die in their sins, whether they are using a condom or not!
Oh Guan, we do not have natives…
I don’t mean to be disrespectful in asking that. There are indiginious tribes where I live with major cultural differences from Europeans. I had a young Navajo boy pick a figtht the other day becuase they were going to compulse him to have his hair cut after dark, and he believed he would be infested by a ghost. I am painfully aware that I do not understand many cultures. When you speak about roaming gang rapes and men believing they can get rid of AIDS by having intercourse with a young (pure?) girl I am speculating that this belief comes from a culture very different than mine.
As I understand it, the Catholic Church is growing faster in Africa than anywhere else. But when I say that the Catholic Church is not monolithic, I intend that explicitly to mean that despite the Vatican’s wishes and best efforts, local belief is developed locally. Yes, we hope that the Bishop has the correct message from Rome… But in the chaos that is Africa… People believe, they live in that belief in Jesus, meetings start with prayer – and usually hymns. We sing our way through degradation and death with praises to God and Christ.Our evangelical churches provide hope for the afterlife, when pain will be gone, and all that is wished for is given by our blessed Christ, Lord Jesus.
Is the concept of chastity found anywhere?
I am trying to find employment, books, learning opportunities, something to think about for a lovely 30 year old man. What does he do in his lonely room, when he is stuck there 24 hours a day? Read his Bible. Our Church is trying to help – but he is only one of of the millions of lost people.
I sometimes wish that I could sit around long enough to get bored. There is just too much to do!
But we know, from experience on university campuses across Africa, that kids get pretty drunk after two beers. Answer: remove all liquor outlets from all campuses. That has been the first reaction, along with setting up counseling and testing centres. But then along come the drugs. We are now into tik, a chemical compound that is easily made anywhere, and readily available to anyone, at very small cost. Schools are rife with drugs, because of the greed of the dealers, and schools are dangerous places to be for many students. Where do we go from here? My mind boggles.
That is why I say that faith in Christ is the best cure. It is not ulitimately effective to contrive the environment to control behavior. If kids want drugs and alcohol, they will find them. It is change on the inside that is lasting and effective. By that I don’t mean to say that steps like the one you have outlined should not be taken, just that they are only “half measures” that will not address the ulitimate source of wrongdoing, which is in the human heart.
